Friends is a long-running American televisionsituation comedy revolving around a group of friends (aged somewhere between their mid-twenties and early thirties) who share neighbouring apartments in Manhattan.

It is possible to regard Friends as a spinoff of the sitcom Mad About You[?], as the character Phoebe Buffay on Friends is the twin sister of Ursula the waitress on Mad About You.

The initial premise of the series has "the friends" in their mid-twenties. Monica Geller and Phoebe Buffay stay together in Monica's apartment. Chandler Bing is looking for a new roomie, Rachel runs away from her wedding altar and later moves in with her high-school friend Monica. Joey Tribbiani becomes Chandler's new roomie; interestingly, Chandler wasn't too keen to have Joey move in with him, but the guy who he chose "never shows up" because Mr. Heckles, who lives in the apartment immediately below Monica and Phoebe (and subsequently Monica and Rachel), falsely claims he is Chandler's new roommate, causing Chandler's real new roommate to leave. The friends hang out a lot at the nearby coffee shop, Central Perk.

Ross, or rather "Dr. Geller" (Monica's brother) is a paleontologist and works at a nearby New Yorkmuseum. Chandler is a data processer for his company. Joey is a stereotypical struggling New York actor. Rachel was a spoilt Daddy's girl who later works as a waitress[?] in the coffeeshop, so she could be more independent and stand on her own two feet. Monica is a chef[?], who for the first several seasons struggles to get her big "break."

Nine seasons of the show have been broadcast, and a tenth season was in doubt. But the tenth season has recently been commissioned at a fee of US$10,000,000 an episode. Currently (2003), the main cast members earn $1,000,000 an episode.